A few weeks ago, while Yolanda was out to dinner at one of our favorite Sunset Strip restaurants — perhaps not the classiest joint but filled with delicious eats, mind you — we received an urgent text from our buddy Vlad the Revealer, owner of the Celebrity Address Aerial website.
Good ol’ Vlad pointed us to a house in the scenic and spendy hills of Los Feliz (and on a particularly celeb-laden street!) that had just sold for $2,275,000 to a mysterious blind trust. Who, Vlad wondered, could the secretive new owner be?
Silly Yolanda was already three (or four or five) sheets to the wind at that point and we plum forgot about the text until much later. But once we finally got on the case, it didn’t take five minutes of investigatin’ before we discovered that the buyers are a comedian/actor named Jordan Peele and his new wife, comedian/actress Chelsea Peretti.
Now, usually Yolanda goes off on her tired spiel about how we “ain’t never heard” of such-and-such-celebrity-before, but today we can’t do that. You see, Yolanda actually knows who Mr. Peele is! Fancy that. You see, Yolanda was a big fan of the sketch-comedy series MadTV back in the day. That show was comedy genius in its younger days (back in the 90s and early 2000s). Towards its later years, however, it started getting whack and was finally (and blessedly) cancelled in 2009 before being unnecessarily revived in 2016 and quickly killed off again. Jeez, Hollywood! Get some original ideas for once, we say.
But we digress, and we’ll step off the soapbox. Point is, Mr. Peele got his big break on MadTV, so we definitely know who he is and we find him a funny fellow. And it seems he’s kept himself quite busy, too — after leaving Mad, Mr. Peele starred for several years with Keegan-Michael Key on the Emmy-winning show Key & Peele. This year (2017), Mr. Peele released his first feature film, the horror-comedy Get Out. Written and directed solely by our boy, the film has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has grossed more than $200 million worldwide (and counting) against a $4.5 million budget, which means Mr. Peele is now quite wealthy and likely has a long, bright showbiz future to look forward to. Mazel tov!
We’re less familiar with Ms. Peretti, but a quick consultation with our pal Mr. Wiki Pedia reveals she is quite the successful lass in her own right. She’s written (or co-written) several episodes of the very funny TV show Parks and Recreation, and she currently stars on the Golden Globe-winning police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
This February (2017), Peretti-Peeles announced they are expecting their first bundle of joy. (Mazel tov, again!) So it’s really not such a surprise that they’d buy a new house to bring up baby, is it? Of course not. Now without further adieu, let’s take a gander at their somewhat unusual new property.
We say the house is “somewhat unusual” because the architectural style is atypical for the neighborhood, which is jam-packed with Spanish Colonials and Mediterraneans. The listing says this place is a Mid-Century Modern, and indeed it was build in 1953 and has some modern elements (mostly inside). Yolanda suspects, however, that the structure underwent at least one major overhaul sometime in its 64-year lifespan. If you ask us, we think it looks a bit more ranch-style or Hawaiian-influenced than what we typically picture when we imagine a MCM.
Also unlike most celebrity residences, which are either walled, gated, or high-hedged (sometimes all three) for maximum privacy, this house has major curb appeal. It sits on a corner lot and sports a big lawn, a wide driveway, and a generous three-car garage. A short stone pathway leads to a candy apple red front door, which in turn opens to the home’s living room/kitchen/dining room combo.
Some of the decor is a bit too 80’s for Yolanda’s taste, starting with all that orange-ish wood cabinetry. The kitchen is also much smaller and the appliances less fancy than we’ve come to expect in a $2+ million home, but Los Feliz is pricy and we suppose this is what you get at this price point. Blessedly, the residence has an open floor plan so things aren’t particularly cramped.
The master bedroom features more hardwood floors and has a lovely garden-view outdoor deck. The master bath needs a new color palette — at least — but does have nice features like a built-in soaking tub (is that still in?) and a dual-vanity sink with plenty of storage space. The 2,690-square-foot house packs in 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, perfect for a young family.
Whoever originally oriented this house on the quarter-acre lot did a bang-up job of planning, because there’s somehow enough space for the house plus decent-sized front and backyards. There’s a covered loggia, an outdoor deck, a dog-run sized grass space, and a pool. And the hillside location affords a view of the downtown LA skyline! Now we understand why the house sold in just one month and for $26,000 over the asking price.
As we’ve already mentioned, the Los Feliz area is chock-full of celebrities — many of whom tend to be stand-up comics or just famous folks with jokes. And this particular street — Catalina, it is called — happens to be full of funny peeps. Some of Mr. Peele and Ms. Peretti’s nearest new neighbors include George Lopez and John Mulaney. Also within walking distance are the homes of other big-name folks like Kirstie Alley, Mark Ronson, Tony Kanal, and Princess Tatiana von Furstenberg. And many more!
Before they hitched their wagons and bought their marital home in Los Feliz, it is Yolanda’s understanding that both Mr. Peele and Ms. Peretti were renters — he lived in a multi-family situation in Hollywood, and she bunked in a small Los Feliz house that’s just a few quick skips from their new (owned) property.
Listing agents: Boni Bryant & Joe Reichling, Sotheby’s International Realty
Mr. Peele & Ms. Peretti’s agent: Laura Stupsker, The Agency